Ben Schwartz Confirms ‘Stranger Things’ Familial ‘Parks and Rec’ Tie

Netflix’s Stranger Things has raised more than a few mysteries (hell, we’ve even answered some), but perhaps the least likely of theories posited that Steve’s uncanny resemblance to Ben Schwartz could make him father to Parks and Recreation’s Jean-Ralphio. Well congratulations, internet nutballs: Ben Schwartz confirms it!

Ahead of an appearance on The Late Late Show With James Corden, Schwartz jokingly acknowledged that Joe Keery’s jock-ish, but ultimately heroic Stranger Things character is indeed Jean-Ralphio Saperstein’s true father. Never you mind that Schwartz himself was born in 1981, while Stranger Things takes place in 1983 with Steve Harrington as a high school student, we’ve got Reddits to validate!

Schwartz even took things a step further to detail Jean-Ralphio’s personal connection with the Demogorgon, and confirm his own presence in the Stranger Things Season 2 cast. Well, Seasons 2 through 100, but who’s counting?